Baseball Card Blogs » Garvey Cey Russell Lopes http://baseballcardblogs.org Posts from the Best Baseball Card Blogs on the Net Mon, 21 May 2012 22:41:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 now part of a complete breakfast http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/now-part-of-complete-breakfast.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/now-part-of-complete-breakfast.html#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=bdf6259b7255bcd97e9e55808264f378 a while back, i picked up a 1970 kellogg's bill singer card.  i had been watching ebay for a while, and i was able to get it for a good price, most likely due to the fact that it was just graded as an 8.
i think that people who look for graded cards are looking for higher grades, and a lot of people who don't want graded cards don't bother with these even though they are fairly easy to extricate.  so, people like me  sometimes can get a decent deal.  of course, i could have waited and got an ungraded version for $3 or so as there have been a few on ebay in recent months.  oh well.

singer joins previous pickups willie crawford
tom haller
and don sutton
in my collection.  i am hoping by the end of the summer to have completed all of the dodger kellogg's team sets.  let me know if you can help with the few that i still need:

1977 kellogg's 11 doug rau
1977 kellogg's 47 charlie hough
1978 kellogg's 34 reggie smith
1978 kellogg's 36 tommy john

now i'm off to snap, crackle, and pop that psa case...
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/4414906052141260403/comments/default 0 that’s a lot of people http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/thats-lot-of-people.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/thats-lot-of-people.html#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 14:15:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=989d602efa81d390acd07b608203fa6f a few days ago, nick at the dime boxes blog wrote an interesting post about cards with the most people on them.  he has several great examples, and it got me to thinking.  i immediately recalled this card, a 1997 upper deck ismael valdes card
featuring the blistered wonder posing for camera day in dodger stadium.  the first time i went to camera day, i didn't understand. i had been to 'helmet day' where i received a dodger batting helmet, and i had been to some other promotions where i took home a poncho/raincoat and other dodger knick knacks.  so, i could not believe that the o'malleys were going to be handing out cameras to all fans in attendance.

of course, that was not the case as my dad quickly explained.  he told me we would be down on the field and would be able to take pictures of the players.  no, not while they are playing.  anyway, it was the first time i was on the field at dodger stadium, and i have a picture of me somewhere standing up against the outfield wall near the dodger bullpen.  good times.

fast forward almost 20 years from that time, and we get valdes safely beyond the orange fence and the reach of the legion of fans hanging out in left field. not as many people as that 2008 upper deck manny ramirez card or the babe ruth card, but certainly the most dodger fans.
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/6231945463718822230/comments/default 0 the evolution of the ace, part 2 http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/evolution-of-ace-part-2.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/evolution-of-ace-part-2.html#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=827a8d8be0796ffa1cf427942a3aefc3
don sutton (1971-1973, 1976)
don sutton, much to my chagrin, is the only hall of famer to be part of the team of my youth.  from 1971-1973, sutton averaged 18 wins a year.  he won 19 in 1973, and finished in 5th place in the cy young award voting in both 1972 and 1973.  he finished in the top five in strikeouts each of the three years, and his 9 shutouts and sub-1.00 whip led the league in 1972.  in 1976, sutton reclaimed the ace spot from andy messersmith (see below), by winning 20 games (21, actually) for the only time in his career.  sutton also finished 3rd in the cy young voting, and 22nd in the league mvp vote that year.

sutton actually finished in the top 5 of the cy young voting in 1974 and 1975 as well, but both times he was behind (or tied with) teammate andy messersmith (1974-1975)
messersmith finished 2nd in the vote following the 1974 season (behind teammate mike marshall) and then tied with sutton at 5th in 1975.  his 1974 season included 20 wins and a 1.10 whip (both of which led the league) as well as 221 strikeouts (good for 2nd in the national league).  in 1975, messersmith earned 19 wins and posted a 2.29 era.  he also led the league in starts, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and hits/9 innings.  he also appeared twice in relief - earning a save in one of those appearances.

tommy john (1977)
tommy john was just two seasons removed from his eponymous surgery when he went 20-7 with a 2.78 era in 1977.  he also threw 11 complete games and 3 shutouts and finished 2nd in the cy young balloting.

burt hooton (1978-1979)
like john before him, hooton finished 2nd in the cy young voting after the 1978 season.  he had gone 19-10 with a 2.71 era in 32 starts, and also had 10 complete games with three of them being shutouts.  in 1979, the dodgers were not a first place team, but happy was still the ace - posting an era of 2.97 but being rewarded with a 11-10 record.  i gave the nod to hooton in 1979 over rookie of the year rick sutcliffe (17-10, 3.46) because hooton surpassed sutcliffe in pretty much every category other than wins.  i don't want to overvalue wins as a measurement of ace, even though my definition is obviously subjective. sorry sutt!  all of the other dodger starters (except for spot starter charlie hough) had losing records and substantially higher eras than hooton did in 1979, including the dodger ace of 1980.

jerry reuss (1980)
reuss joined the list of dodger pitchers to finish second in the cy young voting when he went 18-6 with 3 saves and a 2.51 era in 1980.  he also had 10 complete games, 6 of which were shutouts (the most in the league), and a no-hitter against the giants.  in candlestick, no less.

fernando valenzuela (1981-1982, 1986)
fernandomania touched down in 1981 as another lefty claimed the mantle of ace.  fernando made the opening day start only after it was determined that reuss could not, and went on to rattle off 5 straight complete games, 4 of which were shutouts, in his first 5 starts.  he went 9 innings in his next three starts, too, although it took 10 innings for the dodgers to win his 6th start, although he got the win as he did in all 7 of his other initial 8 starts.  after that, fernando was just 5-7 but finished the strike-shortened campaign at 13-7 with a 2.48 era, and was atop the league leader board in starts, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts.  he also took home some hardware as the league's rookie of the year and cy young award winner.  el toro was a 19 game winner in 1982, and then won 21 games for the blue in 1986 with a league leading 20 complete games and a personal best 242 strikeouts, good enough for second place in the cy young award voting. in between 1982 and 1986, however, fernando was outshone by a couple of other dodger starters.
 
bob welch (1983)
welch went 15-12 in 1983 (fernando was 15-10) and his 2.65 era was the best among dodger starters.  in addition, his 1.16 whip was just slightly higher than that of alejandro pena among the dodgers in the rotation.  maybe i am including welch here just so i can show his nice 1983 fleer card with dodger stadium and ron cey lurking in the background.

alejandro pena (1984)
pena was 12-6 with a league leading 2.48 era for the dodgers in 1984.  he made 28 starts and completed 8 of them, 4 by shutout.  oddly, it was the final season of pena's career in which he was used exclusively as a starter.

orel hershiser was the team's ace in 1985, but i'll cover him in the next post since he also held that title by my estimation later in the decade.
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/7689394800060698004/comments/default 0 the evolution of the ace http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/evolution-of-ace.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/evolution-of-ace.html#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=99a7c1c2f4c49a06d5f23b81c2da4d32 this latest endeavor into the dodgers' positional evolution is tough.  that's because 'ace' is not really a position but rather a perception.  the dodgers have had a number of great pitchers, and even more decent pitchers who put up amazing stats for a year or two. to determine who the 'ace' was each year meant that i would subjectively interpret cold stats many years after the seasons had ended.  and i didn't always get it right, that's for sure.  maybe i should have just done an evolution of opening day starters - that would have been way easier.  anyway, here we go with the first installment of 'evolution of the ace'.  ready the tomatoes...

i start by noting that the dodgers have often had ace #1 and ace #1a in their rotations, and so there will be some back-and-forth for some of these pitchers.  this will result in a less than linear evolution.  you'll see what i mean right out of the gate with don newcombe.

don newcombe (1949-1951, 1955-1956)
newk won 56 games over his first 3 years in the major leagues (1949-1951), leading the team in wins each season.  he spent the next two years in the military, and returned for the 1954 season.  he didn't reclaim the top spot in the rotation until 1955, however, when he won 20 games for the second time in his career.  his best season, however, was 1956, when he went 27-7 and won the very first cy young award while also winning the league's mvp award.

carl erskine (1952-1954)
oisk (shown above on his super cool 1952 bowman card) filled in for newcombe from 1952-1954.  he won 52 games over those three years, including 20 in 1953. Erskine's run as the ace of the staff included his performance in the 1952 world series (where he retired 19 straight yankees in one stretch) and the 1953 fall classic in which he pitched a complete game in game three while striking out a then-record 14 batters.

don drysdale (1957, 1959-1960, 1962, 1968)
big d was 17-9 in 1957, then won 17 and 15 games in 1959 and 1960, respectively.  he topped out at 25 wins in 1962 and then had his incredible run of 58 and 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in 1968.  he posted a career best 2.15 era that season, but wound up with a record of just 14-12.  his 8 shutouts didn't lead the league, either, although he did lead the league in that category with 4 in 1959.

johnny podres (1958)
the dodgers' first season in los angeles was a tough one.  they were 12 games under .500 and didn't really have a standout pitching performance.  i gave the nod to johnny podres because he led the starters in complete games with 10 and in era at 3.72 but was rewarded with a 13-15 record.  by comparison, sandy koufax was 11-11, but his era was 4.48.

sandy koufax (1961, 1963-1966)
there is no doubt that koufax was the ace from 1963 through 1966.  he was the best pitcher in the game during that stretch - he won the pitching triple crown in three of those four years, and led the league in era in the other.  he won three straight cy young awards, plus an mvp trophy during that stretch.  and, in 1961, he led the league in strikeouts and won 18 games.

claude osteen (1967, 1969-1970)
with koufax retiring after the 1966 postseason, another lefty emerged to lead the rotation.  osteen won 17 games (while also losing 17) in 1967 and then won 20 in 1969.  he made 41 starts that year, and completed 16 of them.  in 1970, he won 16 games to lead the squad.

yes, the term ace is pretty squishy, but i think this is a pretty good representation of how the leader of the dodgers' rotation evolved into the 1970's.  we'll continue the evolutionary chain next time...
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/6426276505940930442/comments/default 0 misty chocolate covered memories http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/misty-chocolate-covered-memories.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/misty-chocolate-covered-memories.html#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 14:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=b8648d032de857233dc6ad7c98f75849 this would be awesome.  i count the cool-a-coo among my fondest dodger stadium memories - right up there with listening to vin scully on my dad's transistor radio, learning how to keep score, eating dodger dogs, seeing myself up on diamond vision, watching the likes of willie stargell and willie mccovey absolutely destroy baseballs during batting practice, and, of course, worshiping at the mantle of the infield of steve garvey, ron cey, billy russell, and davey lopes.

here's a 1978 sspc steve garvey card from the period,
just so i can keep my status as a card blogger intact.

i haven't been back to chavez ravine since 2006, but would definitely figure out a way to get there and have a cool-a-coo for old times' sake.

make it happen magic!
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/4829193045225744898/comments/default 0 cards with stars and clouds and dodgers http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/cards-with-stars-and-clouds-and-dodgers.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/cards-with-stars-and-clouds-and-dodgers.html#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=0861ece49b9299d2b2b1d7890b4c3e10 here is the second installment of my recent trading frenzy with the rhubarb runner.  it's a wonder what some vintage twins and a couple of sticker autos will bring in return.  first up, a 2002 topps american pie american sluggers insert of the silver fox
this is one of the more obscured card in my blog's header.  it's right there under the 2004 topps robin ventura and the 2001 ud decade 1970's ron cey.  i feel badly that the duke is so slighted, but he is up there!

here's the first of two shawn green relics - this one is from 2004 upper deck diamond collection (i think)
it's not as cool as this 2001 playoff absolute memorabilia game used base card
featuring green playing baseball amongst the clouds.  what a wacky design.  almost as bad as this 2003 fleer ultra pee wee reese insert
apparently, it was a game when the players floated in the heavens.

back to earth and a 2002 upper deck insert featuring kevin brown
the insert set is called 'return of the ace'.  it kind of reminds me of the opening credits of 'game of thrones'.  without the fictional geography lesson.  on another semi-related note, i will be starting my 'evolution of the ace' series next week.  at some point, brown does show up on the chain of dodger yearly aces.

2004 fleer greats jackie robinson
this card, of course, reminds me of the book by lawrence ritter 'the glory of their times'.  although i prefer 'the image of their greatness' by ritter and donald honig. both are well worth your time, as is the collecting of jackie robinson baseball cards.  even the glut of cards put out by topps over the last couple of years, although it would be nice to see some different photos used.

2005 upper deck sweet spot dj houlton
one of the most interesting things that i know about dj houlton is that his middle name is sean.  i guess ds houlton just doesn't sound right.  actually, the dj stands for dennis junior which is quite sensible.  houlton pitched for the dodgers in 2005 and then again in 2007.  he moved on to japan in 2008, and is still pitching there today as far as i know.

just when you thought you had seen the last of 2011 topps update cognac cards, here comes jerry sands
hopefully sands is working on keeping his eye on the ball down in the minors this seaon.
 
i saved this card for last, only because it has a hated yankee on it.  it's from 2004 donruss leather & lumber
what saves it is the presence of duke snider.  duke and scooter faced each other in the world series 4 times, with the yankees winning three rings before the dodgers finally won in 1955.  duke hit .290 with 9 homers in those 4 series, while rizzuto hit .266 with no homers.  small consolation for the silver fox, i am sure.

thanks for the cards david!
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/2101660712793930256/comments/default 0 emerald city dodger gems http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/emerald-city-dodger-gems.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/emerald-city-dodger-gems.html#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=957e6b4d12d57a2c4fa4133588cb21d2 larry over at emerald city diamond gems and the 1979 topps blog recently sent me some dodger cards.  here's the proof, starting with a 1979 tcma stars of the 50's george shuba
i don't have too many cards of shuba.  he is probably best known for shaking jackie robinson's hand at home plate after robinson homered for montreal, the dodgers' farm team in 1946.  he also was nicknamed 'shotgun' which meant the dodgers of the early 50's had a shotgun and the reading rifle in their lineup.

here's a 1981 fleer card of mickey hatcher
even when he's not doing something goofy on the front of one of his cards hatcher looks goofy.  nice to see dodger stadium and the dugout seats behind number 44.  next up is number 45, terry whitfield (who is also standing in dodger stadium), on his 1985 fleer card
the dodgers had brought whitfield back from japan for the 1984 season.  i was less than enthused, only because he had previously played for both the yankees and the giants.  yuck.

let's cleanse the palette with a 1986 topps card of orel hershiser
it's the tried and true vero beach shot.  one thing i don't miss now that the dodgers have moved spring training to arizona.

here's one of the dodgers' entries in the inagural upper deck star rookies subset from 1989
i think they had three - ramon martinez, juan bell, and william brennan.  brennan was the least successful of the three, appearing in a handful of games for the dodgers in 1988 and the cubs in 1993.  too bad, because i have a bunch of his cards.  he wore number 35 for the dodgers which i will always associate with bobby welch.  in fact, welch was barely gone to oakland before brennan was given the number.  that was crazy to me.

speaking of numbers, one day mike sharperson (seen here on his 1992 leaf card)'s number 27 will be retired by the dodgers
that's because it is now worn by matt kemp.  oh, hello alfredo griffin. i almost didn't see you in the background.  and what is that cub ballboy doing?

finally, there was a 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts significant swatch insert featuring none other than steve garvey
sure, the fabric is from his days in san diego, but it's the garv with fantastic blue forearms.

thanks larry - i'll get your cards out this week.
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/1660133712699349023/comments/default 0 this ferrara is less xbox, more atara http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/this-ferrara-is-less-xbox-more-atara.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/this-ferrara-is-less-xbox-more-atara.html#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=ec91edbe5aab82992627a50f41822148 hey - look at me! i'm hip, quoting (sort of) a song by that dude from 'the voice' with the tiny hands.  all to make a pun about former dodger outfielder al ferrara and this recent acquisition of mine - his 1967 topps high number card.
no disrespect to the bull, but i caved and bought a lower grade card than i would have liked in an effort to finish off my 1967 topps dodger needs.  rounded corners are probably my least favorite condition issue.  on the bright side, my want list is down to just one league leader card which i am 97% sure i already own - i just need to go dig through my retired star binders and find sandy koufax's pages.

1967 also happened to be ferrara's best season as a dodger, and it was also his last full year in dodger blue.  he appeared in only a handful of games with them in 1968 before being lost to the padres in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 campaign.  the card is number 557 in the set - the highest numbered dodger of them all.

welcome to the collection. go ahead and get comfortable -  i don't expect to upgrade anytime soon.
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/5964294500900861000/comments/default 0 some dodger cards, in order http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/some-dodger-cards-in-order.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/some-dodger-cards-in-order.html#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 12:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=27b6d6f2e238e81e8b4d2e2d3274d4a6 of course, the order is up to me.  these are some cards i received from the angels in order a while back.  good stuff, including this card which i had neither seen nor heard of.  it's a 1993 upper deck foldouts card of la's own darryl strawberry.  here are the front and back sides of the card:
i love that part of the text can stand today just as it was written back then - 'in his only healthy season with the dodgers (1991)...' - although shawn green obliterated the la dodger record for homers by a lefty.  here's the insides:
look at darryl put out some serious effort to catch the ball; going over the low railing in right field and fighting the fans!  here are some more docile fans hanging out on eric karros' 1997 topps card:
that card always makes me laugh because of fabio's throwing style - all elbows.  he probably played first base from a young age.

here's bill madlock on a 1987 fleer star sticker card that is also a sticker
the mad dog is playing it free and easy with his bat there in the photo.  if that's mike marshall standing behind him, i am guessing general soreness is about to miss a few games.

also going one-handed with his bat is tim wallach on this 1995 leaf card
i don't recall wallach subscribing to the 'windmill' swing that has been the topic of some discussion up here thanks to justin morneau, but i do remember vividly how mike piazza would finish off his swings one-handed.  just as he is shown on this 1995 upper deck collector's choice se card
(silver signatrue edition, that is).  not to be outdone, wilton guerrero (vladdy's little brother) also goes for a single handed approach, although he probably bunted the ball that is about to hit him on his way to first for an out on this 1998 topps card
that rookie cup was probably the peak of wilton's career.  i was pretty disappointed that he didn't pan out.  i am not disappointed with the cards i received, however.  i'll show one more - a 1997 upper deck collector's choice card of jackie robinson
it's not a final tribute, of course, but it does have jackie's career stats on the back and that fancy 'tribute' logo on the front.  the card is a nice reminder of the 50th anniversary of jackie's debut, and everybody was sporting the special jackie robinson patch back in 1997, even the angels.

thanks for the trade tom!
]]> http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/feeds/1222372909396166374/comments/default 0 crinkly cards http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/crinkly-cards.html http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2012/05/crinkly-cards.html#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 16:55:00 +0000 gcrl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=562d5aad9ea25d09db23048bffddb7eb thanks to crinkly wrappers, i am 9 cards closer to completing the 1971 topps set.
three managers, a hall of gamer, and some other sweet cards.  appropriate to showcase the mike cuellar and the world series highlight cards as i am finally getting around to the 1970 baltimore orioles post over at the timeless teams blog [shameless plug].

i also received some nice piazza's in the deal, including a couple of checklists - here's a 1995 score select
and a 1995 score summit
count me among those who think it is wrong for tim federowicz to be wearing number 31.  here's a third piazza, although not a checklist, from 1996 bazooka
i can't believe i have not featured a card from 2002 topps 206 on the blog before, but i guess i have not.  i am kinda sorta collecting that set although it is such a low priority that i don't have a want list up.  anyway, here's a shawn green insert from the set
i think this is from the 'team 206' insert set, and there are variations even within the inserts.  maybe that's why i haven't gotten too serious about collecting it.

there were also a trio of 2010 upper deck biography cards, including that fantastic orlando hudson one that celebrates the first dodger cycle since wes parker roamed the base paths
i really wish that the o-dog would sign dodger stuff.

here's manny being manny
and andre being andre
although i don't think going deep requires taking out the second baseman.  nice dodger stadium scene, though.

finally, a 2010 topps peak performance andre ethier insert.
ethier is playing at peak performance this year - averaging over an rbi per game.  i am always wary of big 'walk' years (see beltre, adrian) but hopefully magic can bring the money and get ethier re-signed.

thanks for the trade ted!
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